Rowen sat alone on the porch swing looking out toward the woods, deep in thought. He looked up as Mia came out of the house and joined him on the swing.
"Are you okay Rowen?" Mia asked as he sighed deeply, returning his gaze to the woods.
"Yeah, why?" Rowen asked as he glanced over at her.
"You just seem like you got a lot of things on your mind, that's all?" Rowen said and then turned to her. "Mia, if I tell you something, promise me you won't tell any of the guys or Ayame."
"You know I won't tell anyone," Mia said.
Rowen sighed and knew he could trust Mia with what he was about to tell her. "Well, lately I've been thinking about me and Ayame and how I feel about her. And well..." He hesitated just a moment, then reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a small jewelry box and handed it to Mia, who opened it to see a diamond ring nestled in the box. "I want to ask Ayame to marry me but I can't get enough courage to ask her."
"What you need to do Rowen, is take her someplace special and kind of work it out during a conversation," Mia said closing the box and handing it back to him.
Rowen thought for a moment, then a smile crossed his face. "And I know the perfect place," he said getting to his feet. "Thanks for everything Mia. I appreciate it."
Mia just smiled as the young Ronin rushed into the house to put his plan into action. Meanwhile, a evil demon watched the scene at the Koji house through a magic window.
"So, Strata's planning something special for him and Ice, huh," he said laughing. "Now's my chance to get ahold of the both of them." He turned to his demons, "Go and bring the both of them to me."
"Yes, Master Satori," they said and fled the room to do his bidding.
Ayame wondered what Rowen was up to when he disappeared into the woods late that evening. The only one that seemed to know something was Mia, and she couldn't get her to talk about. Ayame was sitting on the dock overlooking the lake, when she heard footsteps coming up behind her and a blindfold was slipped over her eyes.
"What the heck?" she asked as she leapt to her feet.
"It's just me, Ayame," Rowen said in her ear. "I have something special for the two of us, and I don't want you to know right now."
Ayame giggled and let him lead her away from the docks and into the woods. Rowen knew the perfect place after Mia had suggested it. It was a small clearing about halfway into the woods where he first asked Ayame to go out with him. Fifteen minutes later, he stopped and let go of her hand.
"Are you going to tell me what you're planning Hashiba," she asked as her hands went to take the blindfold off.
"We won't have that right now, Mouri," Rowen said playfully slapping her hand. He reached up and undid the blindfold and she blinked, then smiled when she saw what Rowen was up to. He had laid out a blanket and had a picnic basket sitting in the middle.
"I just wanted us to be alone for once without the guys hanging around, spoiling everything," he said as he guided her over to the blanket and they both sat down.
He had packed fried chicken, potato chips and lemonade. After they'd eaten, they sat around talking.
"So what's for dessert?" Ayame asked reaching into the basket in search.
"I have something special for you for dessert," Rowen said taking her hand out of the basket. "Close your eyes and I'll give it to you."
"You're such a tease," Ayame said but closed her eyes as he asked.
When he made sure her eyes were closed, he reached into his pocket and took out the jewelry box and sat it down and then reached in for the cupcake he had in it. He took the ring out of the box and set it on top of the cupcake.
"Okay, open your eyes," Rowen said.
He handed her the cupcake. "Well isn't this nice," she said as she reached up to take a bite and bit down on something rather hard. "What the..." She took the ring out of her mouth and looked at it, then at Rowen. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
Rowen kneeled beside her and took the ring and held onto one hand as he looked into her eyes. "Ayame, I have loved you ever since you came to live with us and I know you feel the same way. Will you marry me?"
When he looked up, he saw she had tears in her eyes as she tried to speak. "Yes. Yes, I will marry you."
They hugged and Rowen placed the ring on her finger. She sat there a moment just staring at the beautiful diamond ring on her ring finger. At the house, Cye was looking for Ayame so they could go to the grocery store.
"Mia, have you seen Ayame?" he asked coming into the computer room where she was working.
"Her and Rowen went into the woods about a half hour ago," Mia said.
"Thanks," Cye said and went searching for his twin sister.
In the clearing, Rowen and Ayame had gathered the picnic supplies up and was heading back to the house when they were surrounded by demons.
"You are to come with us," one of them said as Rowen and Ayame backed up.
"Armor of Strata, dao inochi."
"Armor of Ice, dao jinkei."
"You're pathetic armors will not help you very much," a new voice chimed in from behind them.
They whirled around to see a man with long red hair and piercing silver eyes standing right behind them with a staff pointed directly at them.
"You take care of the demons, and I'll take care of this guy," Ayame told Rowen and he nodded.
"Do you think you actually can stand a chance against me, Ice," the man said, laughing. "My name is Takari and you and your boyfriend will be coming with me."
"I don't think we'll be going anywhere," Ayame said taking her bow from her and got into a defensive mode.
Cye hurried his movements when he heard the sounds of battle not far from him. "Armor of Torrent, dao shin," he said and transformed into his armor.
"Do you think you can actually defeat me, Ice," Takari said as he raised his staff preparing to rush her.
"You'll see," Ayame said preparing herself for the attack she knew was coming.
"Let's see you try this one," he said twirling the staff above his head. "Darkness World Crusher," he yelled bringing the staff down quick.
An enormous energy ball came flying out of the end of the staff and hurled toward her. Rowen saw it and quickly destroyed the remaining demons and ran toward Ayame. As he ran, he drew back his bow and unleashed his sure-kill, "Arrow Shock Wave."
Just before the sure-kill hit her, Rowen jumped in front of her and the attack slammed into him, sending him flying back into a tree where he slumped to the ground, unconscious, his armor disappearing.
"No, Rowen!" Ayame said rushing over to him.
As she bent down beside him, she didn't see Takari coming up behind her until he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet and whirled her around to face him.
"Don't worry about your boyfriend, Ice," Takari said with a smirk, "He's coming along with us."
"I don't think so," Cye said as he appeared in the clearing, his trident poised to strike.
"Why if it isn't the twin brother," Takari said whirling around to face him. "Perfect timing, Torrent."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Cye demanded.
"You'll see," Takari said getting ready to unleash his sure-kill once again. "Darkness World Crusher."
Cye jumped in front of Ayame to block her from the attack but he wasn't fast enough and they were both hit by the sure-kill. Ayame landed in a thick batch of grass not far away, but Cye was thrown against a tree.
"Well, that's three out of the four Master Satori needs," Takiri said stepping over to the fallen Ronins.
With a wave of his hand, six demons appeared out of thin air and they proceeded on picking up the three.
"Leave 'em alone, Takiri," a female voice yelled and a young girl appeared not far from him.
"Well, I see you've finally caught up with us, Reicheru," Takiri said, smirking when he saw who it was. "But you're too late to save these three."
"That's where you're wrong," Reicheru said, summoning her armor. "Armor of the Stars, dao ikeo. Stars of the Night Smasher."
But before the sure-kill even reached Takiri, he disappeared with Ayame and Cye. She was able to get rid of the demons holding Rowen. She rushed over to him and bent down. She whirled around when she heard footsteps approaching and saw the rest of the Ronin Warriors running into the clearing.
"Get away from him, whoever you are?" Sage practically yelled.
"No, don't," Reicheru said holding her hands out. "I'm not the one that did this."
"Where's Cye and Ayame?" Ryo asked as he looked around for their other friends.
"Takiri took them to his master," Reicheru said. "I'll tell you everything. First we need to get him to safety."
Sage and Kento carried Rowen and they headed back to the mansion. They carried Rowen up to his and Sage's room and Sage healed him as best as he could. Then they joined the rest downstairs in the living room where Mia was handing everyone cups of tea.
"To start with, my name is Reicheru Takahashi," she started out saying. "I bear the Armor of the Stars. I have been following Takiri and his master for almost a year trying to take them down."
"And why's that?" Ryo asked.
"Because Takiri succeeded in almost destroying the small village that I grew up in," Reicheru stated. "I was the only one in the village that had one of the Ronin armors and so I was the logical one to hunt him down and get rid of him. But it's been tricky trying to find him."
"But what would they want with Ayame, Cye and Rowen?" Mia asked looking at Reicheru.
"I don't really know," Reicheru said turning to Mia who sat beside her.
Meanwhile, the demons and Takiri appeared in a small room with Ayame and Cye, who was still unconscious. They sat them beside a wall and chained their hands above them to the wall and then left, locking the door behind them. Takiri found Satori in another part of the ancient temple.
"Did you succeed in capturing Strata and Ice?" Satori asked turning around from where he was staring out the window.
"We have Ice and Torrent, but Strata was helped by Reicheru," Takiri said to him.
"I should have known Reicheru would get here to help in time," Satori said sitting down on a chair in the middle of the room. "But we need those two for the prophecy to come to past."